Just A Forgotten Shadow
by Pepperie
Summary: Rosalyn Potter would give up anything for her little brother... including her future. When Harry survives the killing curse, along with Lily and James, Rosalyn Potter was out of the picture... until now. AU.
1. Rosie meets Harry

Remus waited outside the hospital room holding little Rosalyn's hand. At the tender age of three, it had been decided she would wait outside while her mother gave birth to her new little brother. Rosalyn was sitting down, pretending to hold a book to her face.

She remembered earlier that year when she begged her mother to teach her how to read. She had laughed, three was much to early to try to start reading! Frustrated, Rosalyn pretended not to be able to tell what was milk and what was bottled water, because she "couldn't read the labels" and silly things like that. Finally, her parents had enough and caved. Sirius had told them that in a worse case, Rosalyn would get frustrated and would "fail to remind" her parents to instruct her on reading again. Surprisingly, Rosalyn was able to master reading eventually. She was so excited, reading out loud every word she could find, and then she asked her mother "This is so cool! But how do I turn it off?". She had blushed after hearing her Uncle Padfoot's howls of laughter at the comment, knowing she had said something silly. Remembering this, she couldn't help but wonder if she would have memories like this with her new brother.

"Rosalyn?" Remus interrupted her train of thought.

"Yes, Uncle Moony?"

"You're not really reading, are you?"

Rosalyn gasped. She had been perfectly disguising her staring off in to space and thinking as reading, by remembering to scan her eyes back and forth across the pages.

"Next time, remember to actually flip the pages," Remus chuckled.

Rosalyn was trying to fight off a blush, right when Sirius opened the door to tell Rosalyn to come and meet her new little brother. Rosalyn gave a squeal of excitement and ran in to the room, followed behind by Remus. "Well Rosalyn, meet your new brother Harry," James managed to say, though he was getting a misty-eyed. Harry was wrapped in a maroon blanket, which didn't match his green eyes or black hair. Rosalyn was speechless. She had never been happier in her life. The only thing that could ruin this moment was that horrible maroon-colored blanket! As she gave a small sigh, the blanket immediately changed into an emerald green one. Harry started giggling. "Oops.." Rosalie laughed softly, not being able to fight the oncoming blush off.

Rosalyn and Harry looked quite like their parents as they grew up. While Rosalyn was a perfect replica of her mother, her hair was a dark black like her fathers, although since her hair was quite long, did not look messy or tangled, just ever so slightly curly. Harry became identical to his father, aside from emerald green eyes that belonged to his mother. Even though Harry looked much like his father, he had the character of his father. Rosalyn, however, proved to be much more like her father in personality. She was more mischievous than her brother, stubborn, sarcastic but appeared to also be somewhat sneaky and cunning.

All in all, Rosalyn was incredibly protective of Harry, and when her family went in to hiding shortly after he was born, Rosalyn was glad that she had Harry to entertain and play with.

* * *

**AN: Rosalyn is pronounced Rose-a-lihn**

**An idea I've had for a while. Rosalyn's going to wind up taking a lot more than the summary suggests for Harry... ;)**

**Aaand, review please. =D  
**


	2. Falling

July 31st 1981

Rosalyn jumped out of bed. Today was her little brother Harry's first birthday. Her parents also had another "special meeting" today, which meant Uncle Padfoot and Moony would stop by afterwards to wish Harry a happy birthday. Rosalyn sighed. Her birthday, coming up in August, would have to be spent alone in home with her Mum, Dad, and Harry, since there was no meeting that day. She was glad she had Harry, since she hadn't been able to talk to her friends since they went in to "hiding". Rosalyn ran down the stairs to help her Mum prepare for Harry's birthday.

"Mum?"

"Yes, Rosie?"

"How long are we staying in 'hiding' for?"

At this, her mother paused. Tears started forming in her eyes as she pulled Rosalyn into a hug.

"I wish knew…" she whispered.

October 31st, 1981

Rosalyn was sitting outside watching her brother Harry play on a toy broom. It was starting to get dark, so she, her Dad, and Uncle Padfoot had to go inside. Uncle Moony was sick today, so he couldn't come over, and Uncle Wormtail almost never visited. Her Dad and Uncle Padfoot had to get ready to go to another one of the special meetings, and it was her Mum's turn to stay home with Harry and Rosalyn. As her Dad and Uncle Padfoot stepped left for their meeting, Rosalyn took Harry up to his crib, as he had fallen asleep. She looked out the window in Harry's room to look out at the view of the small town that they lived in. Rosalyn watched them, remembering that her parents had told her that their house was invisible to all of them, so she watched them knowing that they couldn't see her. As she looked down, she saw a man in a dark cloak run straight on to their front porch. _How strange, _she thought. She wondered if he actually knew where he was going, or was just wandering around blindly. Her question was answered when he knocked on the door.

They say that there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and that the only real difference between the two is when it is openly realized that the action in question is, indeed, "stupid", however it is still done despite this fact.

Tonight, even if Rosalyn realized just how costly her words would be, she still would have said them, and perhaps, done even more.

Lily Potter was on her way up the stairs to check on Harry, when she heard a knock on the door. Immediately knowing something wasn't right, she sucked in her breath and ran up the stairs. Luckily, both her children were in the same room. She ran in, locked the door, and cast a silencing charm on Harry. "Shhh," she whispered to Rosalyn, who only nodded in response. She only began to open the window, when a cloaked figure burst through the door.

"Thought you could hide from the Dark Lord?" said a raspy voice, and Lily ran to protect her kids instead.

"Don't worry," the voice continued, "I'm only here for the boy. I have no reason to kill you."

"NO!" screamed Lily, "Stay away from my kids! Take me!"

"Very well then. _Stupefy_!" Lily Potter fell to the ground, the world blacking out around her, just to see Voldemort turn to her children.

All Rosalyn saw was her mother fall to the ground, she didn't know if she was okay…. or… not.

The cloaked figure turned to Rosalyn. "Give me the boy," the cloaked figure barked.

Rosalyn just stood there in shock, holding her brother, while tears streamed down her face, out of terror and fear. This –thing– may have just killed her mother, and now he wanted her brother, too? Her baby brother... Could she live with herself if she knew that she was the reason Harry died? No, she couldn't. She loved her brother. As Rosalyn realized this, she felt all her fear turn into anger. How DARE this person come into her home? How dare he just hurt her mother and demand to be given Harry? She loved her family more than anything in the world. Whoever this man was, he would not take them from her.

"Give me the boy, if you want to live through this night!" the cloaked man demanded.

"N-n-no…" she stammered.

"You don't have to die, stupid girl. Just give the boy to me!"

"N-NO! HARRY'S_ MY_ BROTHER! Just because nobody loves _you_ enough to be _your_ family, doesn't mean you can take mine! "

"HOW DARE YOU!" the voice boomed, and Rosalyn felt a shiver go down her spine at the ice in those words. "_Sectumsempra_"

Rosalyn screamed as she fell to the ground, feeling her body was being sliced to pieces as she lay there bleeding, dying. Harry was still in her arms, and as soon as he saw the blood coming from his sister, he started screaming as well. Fighting unconsciousness, she saw the cloaked figure turn to her brother. She could only watch as the monster pointed his wand at her brother and yelled _"AVADA KE-"_

And then there was only black nothingness.

**A/N: First off, I'm really sorry for the delay. I was trying to make the chapter as best as I could before publishing it. (I promise the next chapter soon!) Second, I'm really sorry about Rosalyn's age conflict, but for the sake of some future events, the age gap couldn't be any bigger between them. I'm going to try extremely hard to try and make the characters have more personality, but I must say in advance that those are my weakness. :( **

**Lastly, review, review, review! Any comment at all is appreciated. :)**


	3. Don't know where to land

"Okay, Prongs, you ready to go?"

"Sure, Padfoot. How about we just apparate back to my house, instead of using the floo? I hate that stuff." James shuddered.

"Fine," Sirius smiled at his friend as he watched him vanish.

When James arrived at Godric's Hollow, landing gracefully on the ground, he looked up to find the worst of his nightmares had come true. He fell to his knees. James's throat swelled up as his heart sank, his eyes watered. He gripped the ground with his hands and felt the grass between his fingers as he pulled himself closer to the ground. It couldn't be real. James lifted his head up, hoping –praying– it would all be a dream. But when he opened his eyes, it was all still there. They were gone. And he hadn't been there to protect them.

Sirius landed at Godric's Hollow just a minute after his friend had. Stumbling as he landed, Sirius looked down to make sure he got back on to his feet. He noticed that James was also on the ground, crying. As he looked back up, he knew why. The top half of James's home had been blown clean off, leaving it completely exposed to the night. Even worse, above his house, was the dark mark. Death Eaters had found their way to Godric's Hollow, and Lily, Rosalyn, and Harry had all been home at the time. Sirius ran straight for their house.

The front door was already blasted open when Sirius got there. He started for the stairs when he heard Harry crying.

"Harry?" he called.

Sirius rushed up the stairs and into Harry's nursery. Lily was lying motionlessly on the ground, while Rosalyn was doing the same, except she was bleeding profusely as well. In Rosalyn's arms, staring up at him, was Harry Potter. Sirius grabbed Harry, and ran over to Lily and took out his wand.

"_Rennervate_" he muttered through his tears, hoping that Voldemort had decided tonight of all nights to leave a victim alive.

It worked. Lily opened her eyes.

When Lily woke up, she saw Sirius towering over her, holding Harry.

"Sirius? Harry?" Lily looked over at where Harry and Rosalyn had been. She gasped as she saw Rosalyn lying on the ground.

"Lily," Sirius started, "James thinks your dead. He thinks all of you are."

"James! Where is he?"

"Outside. You're probably the only one who can convince him you're still alive."

Lily took a deep breath.

"Okay, Sirius. I'll take Harry and go get James. Take Rosalyn to Hogwarts. Get Poppy's help there. James, Harry, and I will be there soon."

Sirius ran over to Rosalyn while Lily took Harry and ran outside.

_Rosalyn will be okay,_ she told herself. Rosalyn will be safer at Hogwarts anyways. Death Eaters could get into St. Mungo's, anyone could, but Hogwarts is perfectly safe.

"James?" Lily ran up to her husband.

"Lily? Harry? But- the- wait, where's Rosalyn?"

Lily bit her lip. "Sirius is taking her to Hogwarts.. Voldemort… he- attacked her."

James was still in shock. For some reason, Voldemort hadn't attacked Lily or Harry, even though Harry was the one who might fulfill the prophecy, but attacked Rosalyn instead. "Harry…" he moaned.

"Look, James, Harry is right here."

James looked up. He gasped.

"L-look at his forehead!"

Sure enough, there on Harry's forehead was a scar, in the shape of a lightning bolt nonetheless.

"I know, James. We need to get Harry help, too."

"Okay," whispered James, finally standing back up. "Let's go."

Lily and James apparated to the edge of Hogsmeade, holding Harry, and began to run for the castle.

* * *

"Is she going to be okay, Poppy?" Sirius asked, biting his lip.

"Maybe, maybe not," came the soft, but still somewhat harsh reply. "The curse itself was pretty bad. Although I've got her mostly patched up, the real question is the damage of the blood loss. I gave her a Blood-Replenishing Potion, of course, but I have no way of knowing whether or not it will be effective. As you should know from the _countless_ times you've been in here yourself, potions work the best when your body isn't under any kind of magical strain. However, the strange thing is, she apparently used some strong force of magic beforehand. It really depends on her whether or not she survives."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, contemplating all that had just happened. Tom Riddle had just fallen, and although Dumbledore feared this was not permanent, there were issues that had to be dealt with immediately. Issues regarding a certain Boy-Who-Lived, as he was now being heralded as, and his sister, Rosalyn Potter. He knew that Harry was now the child of the prophecy, and that meant he would one day have to stand up to Voldemort himself. However, he also knew that it was an unrealistic expectation to assume that any normal boy would be able to take on this task. Harry needed to have a reason to fight this war. Harry would need to have a first hand experience of what Voldemort can and will do. And what of Rosalyn? Dumbledore tried to tell himself that it wasn't good to leave Rosalyn there, where she would have to be overshadowed by her younger brother, since special attention and training would have to be given to him. No, what Dumbledore needed was a safe place where she could grow up, and not interfere with training Harry needed to receive. Then, Dumbledore realized what he would have to do. Convincing himself it would be better for everyone, not to mention the entire wizarding world, Dumbledore took a deep breath before standing up to do what he needed to do.

* * *

**A COUPLE OF THINGS:**

**I haven't fully decided on where to go from here, even though I've got a pretty good idea of what needs to/will happen. But, I'd love to here your suggestions. Write in a quick review, tell me where you think Dumbledore should send Rosalyn. Please? The more people review, the quicker the next chapter will be out! And remember: WHERE DO YOU THINK DUMBLEDORE WILL/SHOULD SEND ROSALYN?  
**

Oh, yes and to** Yana5- **Yes and no. But it will turn out that way eventually. ;)


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